Penguin Rush Hour

Silver Spring Metro Station - Colesville, Silver Spring, MD

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Penguin Rush Hour Artist: Sally Callmer

The hustle and bustle of all the "suits" commuting in and out of the Silver Spring Metro Station are captured in artist Sally Callmer's 100-foot mural depicting penguins at a Metro stop. The mural which Callmer created as the winner of a public art contest conducted by the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), was orginally to be displayed for one year. However WMATA later decided to purchase the work and display it permanently. Callmer took six months to paint the 25 plywood panels. Modeled from nature magazines, the penguins have become Silver Spring's unofficial downtown mascot. The panels were recently restored through donations from Silver Spring residents and are in storage until completion of the new Paul S. Sarbanes Transit Center in 2010.